Tag: David Mackintosh

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has put in place further flood prevention measures in response to the recent flooding in Northamptonshire.

Rory Stewart

As the Lead Local Flood Authority, Northamptonshire County Council will be carrying out 17 formal flood investigations, with support from the Environment Agency. These flood reports will recommend actions to reduce the risk of future flooding. The Environment Agency will review their programme of works, in line with the recent flooding incident, and will investigate if any Capital work can be brought forward to reduce flood risk.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to provide young offenders with (a) rehabilitation and (b) education to reduce the likelihood of them reoffending.

Andrew Selous

Although youth crime is down, reoffending rates are far too high and the care and supervision of young offenders in custody is not good enough.

That is why the Justice Secretary has asked Charlie Taylor to conduct a review of youth justice. He will report back later this year with recommendations on how to improve the treatment of young people in our care.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department’s timetable is for the renewal of Trident.

Michael Fallon

The key elements of the UK Trident nuclear deterrent are the Vanguard-class submarines, the Trident D5 missile and the UK warhead. As set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, we expect the first Successor submarine to enter service in the early 2030s. A replacement warhead is not required until the late 2030s, possibly later. Given lead times, however, a decision on replacing the current warhead may be required later in this Parliament or early in the next. While we have no plans to replace the current Trident D5 missile, we are participating with our US partners in a programme to extend its current life to the 2060s.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-06-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Chinese counterpart for the release of Tashi Wangchuk.

Mr Hugo Swire

We plan to raise the case of Tashi Wangchuk at the next round of the UK-China human rights dialogue.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to improve public awareness and understanding of the roles of police and crime commissioners.

Mike Penning

A range of communication activities are being conducted by the Home Office in order to increase awareness and understanding of the roles of police and crime commissioners.

Plans include written, digital, broadcast and social media activity. Material such as posters and a short film are also being provided to Police Area Returning Officers and police and crime commissioner’s offices to use as part of their local communication plans.

All activity will signpost the Cabinet Office candidate information website, ChooseMyPCC, and booklet ordering facility.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent discussions he has had with his international counterparts on progress in the campaign against Daesh.

Michael Fallon

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave earlier today to the hon. Members for Wythenshawe and Sale East (Mike Kane), Bracknell (Dr Phillip Lee), Faversham and Mid Kent (Helen Whately) and Newark (Robert Jenrick).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on development of an early years workforce strategy.

Mr Sam Gyimah

The Government committed to develop a workforce strategy in 2016. We want to continue to attract quality staff into the early years, and to support those already working in the sector to progress, which is why we are reviewing career progression routes. We want to understand what improvements can be made to help more staff reach their potential and forge a successful career in the early years.

We began discussions with a range of stakeholders in the sector earlier this year on the elements of a workforce strategy, and we are continuing to speak to stakeholders as we develop the strategy further. We plan to communicate an update to the sector on the workforce strategy in the coming months.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to ensure that the quality of service is consistent at jobcentres around the country.

Priti Patel

There are comprehensive operational instructions available that all Jobcentres are expected to adhere to. This is monitored through internal checking to ensure processes and the quality of our interaction with claimants meets the required standard. Alongside the checking of results, other sources of data, such as DWP Customer Survey and complaints data, are exploited to ensure services meet the required standard. Continuous improvement is a key factor in our approach and examples include providing coaching/training, improving operations instructions and making better use of technology.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-06-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Chinese counterpart on releasing the Tibetan blogger Druklo.

Mr Hugo Swire

We plan to raise the case of Druklo (also known as Shokjang) at the next round of the UK-China human rights dialogue.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what progress his Department has made in encouraging private companies to create or expand their apprenticeships programmes.

Nick Boles

There have been over 2.4 million apprenticeship starts over the previous parliament, and 153,100 between August and October 2015, demonstrating the continued expansion of the apprenticeships programme.

We are taking action to support and encourage the growth of apprenticeships in all sectors to meet our commitment to reaching 3 million starts by 2020. The UK-wide levy will be introduced in April 2017 for all employers in public and private sector with a pay bill of £3m or more, to help fund the increase in quantity and quality of apprenticeship training in England. All employers that hire apprentices will benefit from the levy.

Our apprenticeship reforms are giving employers the opportunity to create new apprenticeship standards. More than 1300 employers are involved with 204 new standards published (of which over 60 are Higher and Degree Apprenticeships) and more than 150 are in development. So far there have been over 1,000 starts on the new standards.

We are continuing to support small employers to hire apprentices through the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers (AGE), which provides eligible employers with a £1,500 grant per apprentice (aged 16 to 24) for up to five new apprentices currently. The AGE will continue to operate until the apprenticeships levy is introduced in April 2017. From April 2016, all employers will not be required to pay employer National Insurance contributions for apprentices under age of 25 on earnings up to the upper earnings limit.